Feminism In Jane Eyre

In the cases of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice and Emily Bronte's Jane Eyre, the ideals of romantic love are very much the same. In both 19th century novels, women's wants and needs are rather simplified. However, this could also be said for the roles and ideals of the male characters. While it was obvious that this era was responsible for a large amount of anti-female sexism in society and the economy, can it also be said that male-female partnerships were simplified from the male perspective?

Jane always tries to keep herself respect at all cost despite the prevailing male dominance in her world. She knows that it is the time that obedience must end and resistance must begin if she wants to live according to her own will. Thus, Jane Eyre is created to set an example for females to give out her voices in the series of struggles in the man-dominant world.

This “stagnation” was dreary and difficult for many women, however, few were able to push through these restraints and find their voice. The “customs” given by society should not trap and stifle women’s ideas and opinions. Bronte, through Jane’s words is telling those women who are afraid to speak up that their thoughts and opinions are just as valid and important as those of their male counterparts. Jane’s view on women, and the fact that they should be equal to men, is evident in the way she treats the men she interacts with. She is not afraid of them and will not hesitate to voice her opinions. This is even

In the book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the characters and their personalities are put in a lot of thought to; every character is meant to either compare or contrast to the protagonist. And considering how the book has a main theme of Gender Roles, this can be especially noted with the other women in the book. Whether they love or hate Jane, they all represent either aspects of Jane or contrasts to her upbringing, and I’ll explore how do the chosen woman do so in the progression of the book.

hroughout the history of English, Literature feminism has remained one of the central themes in many amazing works of literature. This concept represents feminine independence and self-esteem in a male-dominated society. One of the famous authors who convey this idea is Charlotte Brontë especially in her best-selling novel Jane Eyre in which she discusses the social background of the Victorian society and its effect on women. What society teaches women is not always right; it is up to women to rely on their moral senses to take the proper path for their actions.

Within Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë utilizes contemporary vernacular through a parallel of herself, Jane Eyre, to illuminate the atrocities of the patriarchal society of the 1840’s. “Modern literary criticism has long recognized Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) as a pivotal text for feminists” (Griesinger 1). Largely due to the verbosity in which Jane asserts herself, along with underlying messages protesting the horrid conditions women of the time period endured. Although Brontë seeks progression through her linguistics, Jane also proves compliant in many regards and does not seem to mind doing so. Furthermore, due to the prominence of underlying themes revolving around religion, Jane’s beliefs, and the plight of women within the time period the novel was written, I utilized the writings of Emily Griesinger, a professor at Asuza Pacific University who teaches courses in British literature, religion, and autobiographies and/or memoirs to assist me in my comprehension of the work. In Griesinger’s work, “Charlotte Brontë’s Religion: Faith, Feminism, and Jane Eyre”, a focus is placed upon Brontë’s usage of radical terminologies and their evanescent properties, typically lacking complete manifestation, yet resolute nevertheless in their attempts at progression. Overall, the interpretation of Jane Eyre and its schematics by Emily Griesinger assisted me in my endeavors, wonderfully translating Brontë’s archaic scripture and highlighting fundamental principles of the text and

The Victorian Era was the decade of extreme social and gender inequality. In many ways, the society was polarized in that men are treated as superior individuals, whereas women are looked down upon. In the novel, Jane Eyre, inequality is portrayed through marriages of characters. The issue is further acknowledged with the different perspectives of the society, characters and the author. In her novel, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë disagrees with the society’s implication of marriage as a confinement of freedom, but instead suggests that marriage should be based on equality and duties.

Tremendous spirit. The enviable trait that Jane Eyre from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre possesses is what stimulates her to achieve self-actualization despite the fact that she is a woman. True feminism isn’t as violent as a handful of vicious extremists claim it to be. The accurate definition of feminism is “the doctrine advocating women’s social, political, civil, educational and all other rights as equal to those of men.” Women of Charlotte Bronte’s era did not have basic rights such as the aforementioned. The feminist movement in the Victorian Era had only just begun and Jane Eyre was far ahead of her peers. Published in 1847, the bildungsroman novel of Jane Eyre was an intricate one, with subtle feminism carefully woven in it,

Jane’s life strays from standard social expectations of her time, daring her to be different, to make choices based on what she wants, and not what is expected from her. Women are not given the freedom men have, though Jane refuses to fall under anything that hinders her strive for being her own person. For

A life consisting of domestic toil and servitude, the ideal course expected of the Victorian housewife, daughter, and women any other stature imposing upon them a conquest and subordination of the lesser. Within this complex, Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre, a novel concerning a woman’s metamorphosis into an “other,” resulting from her nonconformity and disenfranchisement, and her advancement into a state of independence. This narrative provides the predominant focus of contemporary feminist literary criticism: analysists hail Jane as the epitome of female empowerment, as she overcomes prejudice and forges an egalitarian position amongst the draconian gender caste of Victorian England. However, in “’Not Fit to Associate with Me:’ Contradictions of Race, Class, and Gender in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre,” Sangeeta Parashar claims that “otherness” derives not from the alienated housewives of the English mother country, but rather from the subjects of her daughter colonies; this “otherness” further imposes racial and imperialistic undertones upon female characters within the novel. Jane Eyre herself is a metaphor for the preconceived black woman and rather than being a defiant source of rebellion, she submits to the colonist dogma of the Victorian Era and forsakes her fellow exploited, thereby becoming white.

As a young adult, Jane is unlike her peers in that she is uninterested in searching for a husband. Instead, she busies herself with her education and eventually her career. At Lowood Institution, Jane is a good student, generally interested by school and eager to learn. Even before her arrival at Lowood, Jane finds that reading is a form of escapism available to her during her most unpleasant moments at Gateshead. Furthermore, after her time a Lowood, Jane makes the decision for herself (another feminist ideal) to become a governess, eventually guiding her towards Thornfield and her inevitable romance with its master. The decision for Jane to leave Lowood was very rebellious and strong-willed, as she had no money, relations or home to which

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, a novel taking place in seventeenth century Northern England, has inspired readers to question and condemn gender roles through many generations since it was published on October sixteenth, 1847. At the time when Bronte originally published the book, women were not typically successful writers. As a result of this, she published it under a man’s pen name, Currer Bell. Since then, times have changed considerably and now Bronte’s work is finally credited to her. However, it defines how difficult is was for women to prosper as not only writers, but in many other careers as well. The message of the novel states just that by the way Jane expresses herself so boldly and is not afraid to stand up to men as their equal. Although Jane Eyre does not reflect modern feminist ideals, examining the novel through a lens that filters its Victorian sentiment reveals its truly progressive insights about injustice against women, which are relevant even today.

For centuries, equal opportunity has been established as a fundamental right, underscored by Lockean beliefs such as the right to life, liberty, and property. During the Victorian era, the ideals of the Enlightenment such as progress and liberty helped to establish a platform for this desire for equal opportunity, specifically feminism, to gain prominence, as it was hypocritical to deny rights to women while to declare the importance of universal fundamental belief of natural rights guaranteed to mankind. By definition, feminism is in reference to the characterization and establishment of equality between the sexes through social, economic, political, and moral means. Christopher Lewis’ Separate Spheres and Women’s Status in 19th Century England analyzes the feminist aspect of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, as Brontë prominently utilized the text in order to target and expose the atrocities and stereotypes that subjected women during the Victorian era.

Bildungsroman is a novel genre that follows the path to maturity of a character, focusing on the changes and experiences that shape this character as they move from youth to adolescence. The plot of Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë, is one such example of a Bildungsroman. The growth of the main character, Jane Eyre, begins from her tragic childhood and leads up to her becoming the mistress of Mr. Rochester. Along this journey, Jane faces various difficulties and confronts many challenges that shape her personality and lead to the construction of the person we see at the end of the novel. Gender is a topic regularly highlighted as a key component of the novel, in particular gender roles and who does or does not want to be defined by their

Women have a long history of being considered idle objects rather than humans with souls. Victorian society is exemplary of the objectivity women endure in a world ruled by patriarchs. An ideal Victorian woman is expected to be beautiful and reserved. Educated in roles that pertain to femininity, a Victorian woman is bred for a life of domesticity to accompany her role of inferiority. The ultimate achievement of an ideal Victorian woman is to marry a man that can provide her with financial security. Charlotte Bronte introduces Jane Eyre, a young woman who struggles to reconcile the unorthodox side of herself and the Victorian side. As a girl, Jane Eyre is ridiculed for her lower-class status and her plainness; however, she is adamant about seeking fairness and using her mature intellect to combat the injustice brought upon her. Young Jane expresses her opinions whether it’s blatant and explicative, or reserved and Victorian, which is a quality she carries into adulthood. During her adolescence, Jane easily succumbs to the unorthodox side of her persona and betrays societal norms; however, her maturation into womanhood and her relationship with Rochester provokes her ability to fulfill Victorian expectation.